This invention relates to an electric powered personnel carrying vehicle that is particularly useful in transporting small items retrieved from shelves in a warehouse, or as a work platform which allows an operator to be raised approximately six feet or more into the air.
Small parts picking is currently done by personnel manually pushing carts equipped with several shelves and a low level ladder which the operator climbs for reaching stock items up to nine feet high. Higher elevation picking up to 12 feet is accomplished with large manual push-in-place mobile ladder stands. Each require the operator to climb up and down while manually holding the goods.
Self-propelled elevating work platforms presently offered to the user are typically large in size, move slowly, have poor travel and controls and are not ergonomically well designed for tasks other than elevating personnel to do elevated maintenance and construction work.
Industrial order picker lift trucks are designed to elevate an operator on a control platform and goods on a pallet carried by the forks of the vehicle. A load platform in place of forks is also available. All units are designed for carrying heavier loads typical to pallet unit size. This requires these vehicles to be large in size and incapable of use in typical small parts storage areas.